The Nun's Story

Quietly beautiful and soaringly sensitive, this off-beat drama gives a vivid portrait of how a young woman gains but also loses her soul. Determined to become a nursing nun to serve the people in the Congo, a surgeon’s daughter puts herself through a personal tug-of-war between a wish to respect the austere discipline of the nunnery and a spirit to rebel. Stripped of her cutesy demeanor, Hepburn inhabits her character with anguish, disappointment and exhaustion. In a remarkable synthesis of idea, pictorial imagery and stunning colour, Zinnemann crafts a parabola of spiritual afflatus and deflation, throwing into the air his questioning of faith, conscience and obedience.

Restored by Warner Bros. in collaboration with The Film Foundation.

Academy Awards: 8 nominations including Best Picture

San Sebastian International Film Festival Golden Seashell for Best Film and Best Actress Zulueta Prize

22/11 (Sat): Film talk with Sam Ho